


New Clothes

by pickleplum



Series: Owl and Dragon [5]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Wingfic, companion to Athene Noctua, winged!Hermann
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-02-26
Packaged: 2018-01-13 19:51:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1238800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickleplum/pseuds/pickleplum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann's new shirt is uncomfortable, but some things are worth a little ache.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Clothes

Hermann picks at the hem of his new undershirt—the one which pins his wings tightly to his back—through his too-big, hand-me-down jumper as he lies on grass in the garden watching the clouds and swallows swirl past. The thing chafes terribly across his skinny chest and his wings ache after only a few minutes under its restraint. His mother and father insist he wear it more often now that they’ve moved into the city.

It wasn’t fair. His parents, Dietrich, and Karla don’t have to wear anything uncomfortable if they don’t want. Hermann whines and scratches, even hides the thing and claims it’s lost. No matter what, he ends up trapped inside it. If he tries to escape before a family outing or when guests come to visit and even if he simply wants to sit and read in the front rooms of the new house, his father forces it on over his head. Sometimes his wings wind up crooked or pinched and are sore for hours.

No matter how the shirt goes on, Hermann must to concentrate hard to keep his wings from moving inside it. The more they do, the more feathers are pulled out, each with a sharp prick that makes his eyes water.

Not that Hermann cries over lost feathers. Seven-year-olds don’t cry over silly things like that.

A few feathers don’t matter much when Hermann can go outside for the first time in months. Dietrich carries him and sets him down on the grass because his mangled knee still can’t support his weight.

That doesn’t matter, either, because Hermann can feel the sun on his face and a breeze riffling his hair. 

**Author's Note:**

> This started as the first paragraph of another fic, but eventually developed too much to stay where it was.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Silver Lining](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7479948) by [pickleplum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickleplum/pseuds/pickleplum)




End file.
